Spanish potato industry launches promotional campaign

The Spanish potato industry has launched a promotional campaign designed to stop declining potato consumption. According to Jose Ramon Aguado, president of the Spanish Potato Forum, the seven-month media campaign by the country’s potato producers, processors and distributors is aimed at promoting consumption of new potatoes, emphasizing their flavour qualities as well as their nutrition value and other benefits. Consumers in Spain are eating 35 per cent fewer potatoes than they were 25 years ago. Spaniards consumed 37 kilos per person per year in 1990, a figure that now stands at around 24 kilos per person per year, Aguado says. The country’s potato producing area has also shrunk considerably, declining 30 per cent in the past decade. Aguado maintains many factors are contributing to the decline in potato consumption and production, such as rising prices, a lack of profitability for producers, and the fact product might not always have the best quality. Source: Fresh Plaza